Once You Meet Her
by Lesmis13
Summary: "And once you meet her, you will find that something inside is changing." "For as long as he could remember it, which had only been a year, Gou was constantly the center of rumors and teasing; they called her names: weirdo, freak, and loser. For reasons he did not know, but when he looked at her now, he just saw a sad and quiet girl." Nagisa/Gou. AU
1. And no one know it

_**(A/N: I have been itching to try to write a multi-chapter story for the longest. But, I have always been afraid that it will not be well liked after a while. But, I going to put my fear aside, and try my absolute best! Anyways, this story is sort of based on the track AU (I don't fully understand what the track AU is exactly because I heard of it from my sister, but since I like track, why not?) Anyways, I hope you enjoy. I am so sorry if any characters are ooc or if there is any spelling or grammar mistakes.)**_

_**All the characters in this story belong to Koji Oji and Kyoto Animation.**_

_**The song "Once You Meet Her" belongs to Nobuo Uematsu, Square Enix (Square Soft), and Final Fantasy III (Final Fantasy 3)**_

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_**And no one know it**_

_**Where she came from, where she's going.**_

Nagisa first met Gou merely by chance. It was during English class; their teacher had assigned the class an oral poem analysis project, and told them that each student must be in a group of two. The students roared in approval, but their acceptance soon died down and was replaced with whines of protest when the teacher added that she had already assigned everyone a partner. The teacher ignored her students, pulling out a piece of paper and reading out the pairs of names.

The first two names that she called out were Nagisa and Gou. And for a moment, nobody made a sound; it was quiet and Nagisa found it quite odd. Then, he heard a boy quickly coughed out "Nagisa is paired with that loser" before the classroom erupted in laughter. Nagisa did not laugh, though; he twisted and stared at the red headed girl sitting by the window, and to his surprise, she was staring back at him before she lowered herself in her seat, embarrassed. Nagisa could not help but feel sorry for her. For as long as he could remember it, which had only been a year, Gou was constantly the center of rumors and teasing; they called her names: weirdo, freak, and loser. For reasons he did not know, but when he looked at her now, he just saw a sad and quiet girl.

Annoyed, the blonde boy furrowed his brow at his classmates' remarks and laughter. He clenched his fists, pulled out his chair, and made his way to Gou's desk. The laughter ceased, and nobody else dared to make a comment.

"I am sorry about that." He chuckled, and extended his hand out to her. "My name is Nagisa Hazuki by the way."

She reached up and shook his hand. "I know your name; you are the famous track star around here. My name is Kou Matsuoka."

The blonde boy raised a brow at the girl, confused. Wasn't her name Gou? He could have sworn the teacher said her name was Gou. Everyone knew her as Gou. So why on Earth would she decide to change her name, and go by Kou? Did she not like her name or something? Nagisa thought. He liked her name, but he knew better than to tell her that. She would probably just distant herself from him. And he did not want that at all. So, he decided to ignore her sudden and bizarre name change when he responded. "Right, I guess you could say that, but I am just a hurdler. The track stars you are looking for are my friends, Haruka, Makoto, and Rei."

Gou did not say anything further. She pulled out her textbook and opened it to a certain page. "For the project, we will work on 'Wind and Window Flower' by Robert Frost. Is that okay with you?"

"Yeah, it is fine; I just want this project to be over with already." He opened his textbook, and read the poem. "Is there any reason you chose this poem, uh Kou?" He forced himself to say the name. He liked the name Gou much better; it suited her perfectly.

She looked up. "Robert Frost is my favorite poet, and since this is the only poem of his that I could find in this textbook, why not?" She admitted with a smile. Nagisa could have sworn that he felt something snapped inside and it hurt like hell.

"Oh." The blonde boy mumbled.

They did not say anything after that; they just read the poem and jot down notes in silence. There was nothing else to talk about. And after a while, class ended. Nagisa scratched the back of his head. "I guess I will see you tomorrow."

The red headed girl grabbed her messenger bag and fastened the straps. "Yeah, I will see you tomorrow" With that, Gou headed out the door.

And Nagisa could not explain the ache in his heart.

_**And once you meet her,**_

_**You will find that something inside is changing**_.

He mentioned her to his friends one day out on the field. They were exercising for the next track and field meet the upcoming two weeks. Her name had slipped into one of his conversations without him even realizing it and before he knew it, he was talking about her, in positive way, of course. He talked about the project that they were currently working on, the way she described her love for Roberts Frost's poems, and her strange desire to be called Kou.

It was not until Rei had asked "Are you in love with her?" that Nagisa understood. He jumped back a bit in shock. He missed his footing, and tripped over himself in a clumsy mess. His face reddened slightly.

The blonde boy tried to laugh it off when he informed his friend that he and Gou were just friend and nothing more. His response, however, backfired when he started to stutter. He cursed slightly at himself for his stuttering. Rei did not push matters any further; he just picked up a javelin and threw it as far as it could go. The glasses wearing boy could already tell that his friend was infatuated with the quiet yet mysterious red headed girl, but he kept that to himself. He wanted Nagisa to figure out his feelings for himself.

And Nagisa began to think: did he really view her only as a friend? He was beginning not to believe so. If she was only just a friend to him, he would not have tripped over his feet when Rei had asked him if he was in love with her or not, nor would he have stuttered when he answered him…. Nagisa shook his head. He stopped thinking. Gou was just a friend. He believed. It was just Rei's question that threw him off. That was all. He assured himself, but he could not stop his heart from beating so fast and aching so much.

So when Makoto and Haruka joined them on field, sweaty and all from running three laps, Nagisa did not mention Gou at all. He did not want another repeat of what happened earlier. He was not sure if his heart could take it again. At that thought, Nagisa made a face.

He only thought of Gou as a friend, right?


	2. She's like a rainbow

_**(A/N: This is the second chapter! It was supposed to be longer but I cut it short because I decided to rewrite the other part to it. I hope you enjoy. I hope none of the character are OOC or if there is any spelling or grammar mistakes.)**_

_**All this characters in this story belong Koji Oji and Kyoto Animation. **_

_**The poem is called "Wind and Wind Flower" by Robert Forest. The poem analysis described in this story is all done by me.**_

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_**She's like a rainbow**_

_**When she comes up, all are lit up.**_

"I don't get it, Gou!" Nagisa dropped his head on the table and groaned. They were at his house, working on their project that was due next week. Gou had suggested that they work in his house when they could not work on it during school. Nagisa agreed with her, but found it quite out of the norm that she did not invite him to her house instead. But, he never brought that up with her; he figured that she had her reasons. "I don't understand how we can turn this poem into a five minute to ten minute oral report presentation without just saying the poem is about a winter breeze that is unable to win its love."

Gou reached over and patted him on his shoulder. "The name is Kou, but I was aiming for the minimum required time when I chose that poem." She opened her textbook to the poem. "But Nagisa, that is not a bad place to start, in fact it is actually a good place to start."

Nagisa raised his head slowly. His eyes lit up as a small smile appeared on his face. "Really, are you sure?!" He asked, ignoring the name change. He was going to call her by Gou, after that was the name that she was born with.

Her head nodded. "Positive. We can start our report by talking about how Frost wants his readers –mostly young romantic poets– to forget the idea of an innocent and everlasting love by telling the story of the unrequited love between the winter breeze and the window flower. They are total opposites, right?!" She asked. It was a rhetorical question, but Nagisa could not help but response.

"Yeah, the winter breeze obviously associates with the winter and the window flower obviously associates with the spring. So, of course, they are opposites; winter is death and spring is life; death is the opposite of life."

Gou gasped, astonished. She was so proud of him that she wanted to jump up and hug him. But, of course, she was not going to do that. She had to keep her distance. So instead, she took a hold of his hands, and smiled a winning smile, surprising the boy a little. His face reddened and Gou found it cute, but she was not going to admit that, now was she? Feeling her own face heating up, she released his hands rather quickly. She coughed. "Exactly, they are total opposites! Keep what you said in mind during our presentation next week. It is important. After we talk about the unrequited love; we can talk about how their opposite natures keep them further apart. Frost symbolizes their opposing natures clashing together by using the window." She paused and looked at Nagisa. He had a confused look on his face and his face was slightly red for whatever reason. Maybe, he was coming down cold or something. She thought. Gou chose to ignore it as she continued. "Yes, the window! The window in the poem serves as a barrier to keep the two opposing forces -winter and spring, life and death- from meeting each other; spring and life stays inside the house and winter and death stays outside. And finally, after we talk about the opposite forces, we can talk about why the window flower "leaned aside" and let the winter breeze fly by without saying anything. The flower-"

A cell phone's rings filled the air, cutting the red headed girl off in her thorough analysis of the poem. She dug into her messenger bag and pulled out her pink phone. She scowled at her phone before getting up from her seat and heading to the bathroom and answering the call. Gou did not stay in bathroom as the call ended rather quickly. She grabbed her bag and flung it over her shoulders. "I have to go now; my step father wants me to come home." She said with a smile. But, Nagisa did not buy into that; he knew her long enough to know that she was not smiling. When Gou smiled, it was as if the world stood still for him and he could not possibly understand why. But now, her smile was broken, her face was red, and just a little he could see her eyes watered as if she was struggling not to cry. And it absolutely broke his heart. And as much as it hurt him, Nagisa did not comment on it.

"Oh okay. I guess I will see you tomorrow, then."

"Y-yes!" She stammered, and made her way to the door.

"Gou, what about the window flower? Why did it "leaned aside" and let the winter breeze fly by without say anything?" He asked, calling out to her.

Gou did not turn around as she replied back. "I will tell you later in English class."

Nagisa said nothing after, and watched the girl walked out the door. He would never know why the window flower "leaned aside" and let the winter breeze fly by without saying anything. Gou never brought it up in class or in the presentation. He never questioned why.


End file.
